Is It Surprising That Teen Marijuana Use Decreased After Passage of Medical-Marijuana Law?

According to the teenagers who took the Arizona Youth Survey last year, they didn't suddenly become potheads because the state enacted a medical-marijuana program.This might sound like a disappointment to some of the program's critics, but our colleague Ray Stern pointed out yesterday that the percentage of 8th, 10th and...
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According to the teenagers who took the Arizona Youth Survey last year, they didn’t suddenly become potheads because the state enacted a medical-marijuana program.

This might sound like a disappointment to some of the program’s critics, but our colleague Ray Stern pointed out yesterday that the percentage of 8th, 10th and 12th graders who reported using marijuana at least once went from 29.9 percent — before the law’s passage — to 28.7 percent in 2012.

See also:
Teen Use of Marijuana Decreased Since Passage of Arizona Medical-Pot Law, Study Shows
Teenagers May Get Marijuana From People Who Have Marijuana, Local Media Discovers

The teen’s marijuana use in the last 30 days also went down, from 14.8 percent in 2010 to 14.3 percent last year.

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Still, it doesn’t appear folks like Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery are convinced of this result.

Montgomery told Stern, “The decline in reported marijuana use among 8th graders is insignificant when compared to the increase among teens in other grade levels and the substantial proportion of all teens who report they are getting pot from medical marijuana cardholders.”

This morning’s question: are you surprised that there was a slight decrease in teen marijuana use after the passage of the medical-marijuana law?

Cast your vote below:

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